It features my work and experimentation during the foundation year at Ravensbourne.

Monday, 16 September 2013

Fashion and Textiles rotation reflective summary

I think I got on really well overall with my tasks in the fashion and textiles rotation week as I really enjoyed them and tried to put my maximum effort into them. I think I did however struggle with keeping to the brief at points such as when creating the samples as I failed to fully grasp the 3D element and went for a more 2D illustrative style. I think I did however achieve quite a lot this week especially with using my illustrative style in the medium of garment making and also in the fashion collages we created on day two. I also think the variety of materials I used was successful as it allowed me to create unique work and to establish my design aesthetic even whilst adhering to a brief. I got really positive feedback about my work and people really appreciated the unusual materials such as fake grass and glitter glue. I also got constructive criticism from teaching staff in that I should try and make my work more 3D to further push my style. I found this really useful as it made me realise I need to try and pay more attention to the brief as opposed to rushing into my own style as I will learn more. From the overall tasks, I have learnt the importance of the design process in order to fully realise a piece you are happy with. I learnt this through the designing of my final garment and I will use this extensively in my future when creating work. I think the wide range of media and varied imagery that I included in my collages and also my finished garment works successfully as it draws from a range of sources that goes beyond fashion (for example the John Lennon imagery) and makes the work connect with others (such as the use of childhood favourite, glitter glue). I think the quality of some elements could have been improved for example the use of glitter for the collar as it was quite patchy and kept falling off. In hindsight, I should have prepared for this and created a stick on collar using dried glitter glue. I found the actual construction element of creating the garment quite difficult as this is something I have struggled with but I know it is about practise and not rushing the preparation. I don’t think I found elements of the week easy but I suppose the easiest part of the week was raising enthusiasm as I really enjoyed the tasks and felt quite disappointed when I realised it was the last day of the rotation. I think my time management was actually quite good for this week as I managed to finish tasks on time and even early in some cases. To improve, I would have tried to be more organised with some elements such as the photo shoot as I do not feel I produced the best shots due to a lack of planning and location finding beforehand. To learn from this, I would ensure I think about each stage of the process with the same time and care as when one element is considered less it can be seen in the results.